The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-02-22
LEE AND WEALTH.
A Weii-to-Do Miner Loses Both In an IF
fort to Find q silver Deposit.

a wei1-tO-DO mincf t<Octs DUH al IL
fort to Find q silver Deposit.
Antelope Charley, noted Indian
hunter and trapper, brought into the
Shoshone Agency, in the northern por-
tod of this Territory, not long ago. =
human skull and handful of silver
specimens almost pure in their charac-
ter. The CHASTITY relic and the bright
silver the Indian had found in q
deep mountain gorge of the Owl Creek
Mountains, in the vicinity OF those not
ed local landmarks, the Washaku Need
les. The skull was lying with its kim
dred portions of human skeleton, and
the silver ore was contained in a mold
ering and rotten buckskin sack, yet
held in the grasp of bOny hand. The
Indian lifted the sack from the hold of
the skeletons fingers and it fell apart.
the glittering ore rolling upon the
ground amid the dry and bleaching
bones. Antelope Charley gathered up
the ore specimens, and taking the
skull to verify his story, brought both
skull and ore into the agency. The
Indians tale aroused the recollcctionS
of several old-timerS at the agency, and
furnished the KEY TO half-forgOtten
mystery of the mountain frontier. la
the spring of 1873 there appeared in
the camp of a party of prospectorS To-
Gated i'm the shadow of the WaShaku
Needles a man well equipped for pros
IL =. II GrsaV "A
Gcrmrn. arl soon became known 10
the camp he Joined as Dutch Joe. Like
most of his race he was industrious and
steady, and it was not long before
Dutch Joe became the most indefatig-
able proSpector of the party.
No distance was too long for him TO
traverse, no mountain journey too lone
some for him Ia undertake; scaling
precipires and descending into can
vonS. he Sear.hcd the mountains far
and wide for the glittcring ore on
whose possession he had centcrcd the
hopes of his lifc.
At last, late i'm the summer. he re-
turned to camp one evening from one
of his wild and ragged trips, wearing
I'm clated look. and it soon became
buzZed around that Dutch Joe had
struck it rich. Beyond certain re-
pressed triumph in his manner he WIS
reticent. He Was watched closely, how
ever. and Il proSpector. do%ging his
steps from camp the day after his re-
turn, saw him take from his bosom a
buckskin sack and pour it on fair spot
of soil mass of silver specimens, whose
brittleness and evident purity took the
aStonishcd watchman's breath away.
The lode those specimens came from
must have been of fabulous richness.
Dutch Joe was now watched closer than
ever. with the intention of tracking him
To the mountain treasure. But the sue
ceSsful prnSpector WAS wary and SuSpi-
ciou>. and one day the spying camp
found that he had cluded it, Interested
vigilance and WAS gone. In vain he
was searched for. Not even trace of
his departure could be found. and when
a few days afterwards furious noun
tain snow>torm set i'm the disappointed
plotters were forced to abandon the
hunt and bid farewell Ia the hope of
enriching themselves AT Dutch joe
expense. But Dutch Joe was never
seen or heard of afterward. He anil
his mountain treasure had alike VAN
ished. The next spring came around
and brought neither Dutch Joe nor any
tidings of him. The belief became
general that he had persisted in the
mountain storm Immediately following
his disappearance, but the story of the
lost prospector was long told around
frontier camp-fres, with MANY Specu-
lationS on the value of the silver treas
urr, of which he alone knew the Local
ton. And now, thirteen years after
his disappearance, the discovery of the
ShOshone hunter comes to confirm the
fate of the lost prospector. He had
really persisted in that winter storm,
and had kept wife him to the last in the
grip of his horny fingers the buckskin
sack, with its precious contents. A
party of men went from the agency I'M
der the guidance of Antelope Charley,
and gave the bones of the lost discov-
erer of the treasure Christian burial. A
strong effort will be made to find the
rich silver deposit for the sake of whose
riches Dutch Joe persisted amid the
SHOWS of the Owl Mountains. -LdrGBlis
(Hy. ~ Bo0nirdRg.